


the day after the birthday

by sangi



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-03
Updated: 2007-09-03
Packaged: 2018-03-13 15:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sangi/pseuds/sangi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three times Toph has a hangover the day after her birthday - and one time she doesn’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the day after the birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2007, posted again here for archival reasons.

1\. fifteen

“You okay in there, Toph?” Sokka is leaning against the doorway to Toph’s bathroom, listening to the sounds inside. She coughs suddenly, and he winces. “Toph?” he ventures into the room and sees Toph leaning against the wall, across from the sink, where she had washed out everything she had just vomited up.

“So… do you feel fifteen yet?” _The laws in this nation for drinking need to be revised,_ he thinks as she unsteadily lurches towards him.

“Go away, Snoozles,” she says, groaning softly. Sokka’s hand reaches out, as he frowns concernedly at her, and feels her forehead. Toph moves to jerk away, but he gently holds her in place. After a moment:

“Toph, you have a fever.”

She smacks him on the arm as he laughs. Sokka looks her over and notices the crumpled clothes, the dark bags underneath her eyes, the shaking hands, and the mussed hair. He would suggest that she did something that she shouldn’t have last night, but he’s already got a bruise on his arm and doesn’t want another one. And she just turned fifteen, for the gods’ sake.

Sokka makes a very true statement, and Toph huffs haughtily.

“You really shouldn’t have drank that much last night,” he advises, cracking a grin that he thinks she can’t see.

But she says: “Stop smirking at me, Sokka. I’m blind, not stupid.”

* * *

 

2\. sixteen

“You’re of legal age now,” he comments, watching her steady herself against the wall. Her glazed sea foam eyes send him a glare and he tries hard not to laugh.

“Sokka, you’re an ass. We both know I have a horrible hangover, so why don’t I just admit it and you can leave me alone while I go back to my room to yell at the stupid maids some more?” She grumbles, feet shifting uneasily. Sokka’s eyes soften and he reaches a hand out to take hold of her arm, and pulls her towards the kitchens. “Where are you taking me?” She makes a move to jerk her arm away, but he holds on tight.

When they finally arrive in the kitchens, he shoves her into a chair while he talks in soft words to one of the chefs. After a minute, the chef nods and smiles at Sokka, and he goes to sit back at the wooden table with Toph. “Give me a minute, Toph, and I will have you the best hangover cure in the world.” He says it proudly, thumping one fist on his chest.

Toph snorts. But true to his words, the chef comes over a few minutes later and leaves a red, disgusting looking drink on the table. Sokka pushes it towards Toph and she takes a delicate sniff of it before frowning. “That smells like shit,” she deadpans. She can feel his stare. “I’ll drink it, I’ll drink it.”

So she does.

And a minute later, feeling like she was never drunk, Toph says, “How does that work?” 

“I told you Toph, the best hangover cure in the whole entire world. Trust me.” He flashes her a smile she can’t see, and she shakes her head back and forth slowly. Her feet tap against the ground lightly as their conversation drifts into comfortable silence.

“Thanks,” she starts, warily, “Sokka.”

“No problem, Toph. Anything for you.” He ruffles her hair, and she slaps his hand away angrily.

Sokka eases out of the chair as she frowns and glares at him. “Why the hell didn’t you give me that last year?” she demands as he squirms uncomfortably.

* * *

 

3\. seventeen

“Are you trying to make this a habit?” Toph can feel his cocky smile on her back as she leans over the bowl of water, emptying whatever the hell was still in her stomach. She can also hear his mocking laugh and his deep sigh as he shuffles his feet on the floor, probably feeling something like awkwardness.

Toph makes a rude gesture with her hand and leans back against the wall.

Moments later, when she lurches forward to face the looming water ahead of her, she can feel Sokka’s hands holding her hair back, and the crispness of his fingers as they feel her forehead for a fever.

“Toph, with this pattern, what the hell are you going to end up doing next year?”

The earthbender leans back against him and doesn’t answer. He sighs and drags her to her bed and tucks her in.

* * *

 

4\. eighteen

Toph wakes up to light snoring. _Oh shit,_ she thinks, _what have I done now?_ She turns over to be greeted with the sharp smell of morning – cut grass, the early dew, and the sound of the birds chirping somewhere in the background, all that nice stuff. She starts to sit up and realizes that she’s not wearing clothes. Her face instantly drains of all color.

Quickly she lays back down, letting the silk sheets caress her back. She sighs heavily, very, very heavily, and says darkly, “Sokka, wake up.” (He does so promptly.)

“What are you doing in my room, Toph?” he yawns. Then Sokka opens his eyes and realizes that he is definitely not in his room. “Oh, damn. What did we do now.” It isn’t even a question.

In an attempt to break the awkward silence that followed, Sokka says, “Well, I would say we were drunk, but we weren’t.”

Toph sighs dreamily and leans further back into the bed.

Sokka laughs. “Yeah, it was pretty good, wasn’t it?” She burrows her head into the junction between his shoulder and neck and mumbles something like ‘Shut up’ before snuggling closer.


End file.
